בס"ד

Pirkei Avos- Perek 1

Congregation Ohr Rosh Chodesh 2020

Rabbi Sariel Malitzky

which literally translates as Fathers? The ,אבות Question to ponder: Why is this Masechta (Tractate) called name of the Masechta usually reflects the character of that Masechta, the main theme of that Masechta, or ?"אבות" have to do with פרקי אבות teaches some lesson about the Masechta. What does

There are numerous reasons offered by the Meforshim.

because it אבות writes that the Masechta is called )מחזור ויטרי( The Machzor Vitri1 (1 records the history of the transmission of our Torah. The opening Mishna begins with The Mishna relates our history back to Moshe Rabbenu, who is the .משה קבל תורה מסיני .of our people ,אב start, the

,writes that any idea related to character development (תפארת ישראל) The Tiferes Yisrael (2 is primarily a פרקי אבות .אבות Middos, and Mussar that you will find, can be found in Masechta about Middos and Mussar. It is mostly about the development of one’s .the foundation, of all character development ,"אב" character. It is the

.represents the start אבות because אבות The Tiferes Yisrael also suggests that it is called (3 דרך ארץ that גמרא )פסחים( and a מדרש )ויקרא רבה( Middos is where it all began. He quotes a .דרך ארץ קדמה לתורה preceded the Torah by 26 generations. We know that

4) The Maharal2 suggests a beautiful explanation. The primary role of a father is to educate, guide, and direct his son on the proper path. A father must, at times, rebuke (lovingly) his son. If the father does a good job, the son will listen to the direction and guidance of his father, follow in his footsteps, and lead a productive life. This Masechta The entire Masechta is a work of .אב is a work of Mussar, which is given by a father, an .אבות

5) The Medrash Shmuel3 explains that one who teaches, guides, and directs another individual on the path of Torah is considered like a father. It is as if he or she created and brought with them the (שרה and אברהם) raised the individual. The Torah writes that they

1 Simcha ben Samuel of Vitry (died 1105) was a French Talmudist of the 11th and 12th centuries and pupil of 2 Yehudah Loew ben Bezalel (between 1512 and 1526 – 17 September 1609, widely known as the Maharal of Prague 3 Samuel ben de Uçeda was a Jewish commentator and preacher. He was a pupil of the Arizal and R’ Chayim Vital, with whom he studied , and became a rabbi and preacher in and, later, in Constantinople. 1

the souls that they “made” or “created” in Haran). Rashi explains that) נפש אשר עשו בחרן they “made” them because they converted them and that was tantamount to making them. fathers, because through the wisdom they are ,אבות in this Masechta are תנאים The imparting, we become their sons.

?שבועות and פסח during the months between פרקי אבות Question to ponder: Why is it the custom to learn on Shabbos פרקי אבות Before we address that question, let’s think about why is there a minhag at all to learn ?אבות afternoon? There are dozens of Masechtos! Why

According to some, the custom was to learn Avos every Shabbos and not just during the weeks between Pesach and Shavuos. The Machzor Vitri explains that the entire Jewish people (not just the scholars) would be in shul on Shabbos afternoon (to hear leining). We utilized the opportunity that their presence presented by teaching them Pirkei Avos. Why Avos though?

1) The Gemara in Bava Kamma (30a) writes:

אמר רב יהודה: האי מאן דבעי למהוי חסידא, לקיים מילי דנזיקין; רבא אמר: מילי דאבות; ואמרי לה: מילי דברכות

damage law). Rava says) נזיקין One who wishes to be righteous or pious should fulfill matters of [he should fulfill] matters of Avos. Some say [he should fulfill] matter of Blessings.

The Maharal on that Gemara, and the Maharsha, who writes very similarly, explain that there are three areas of Jewish life that a person striving to be complete (the ultimate level for a Jew is to .which means to be complete or perfect) needs to work on, develop, and master ,שלמות reach They write that each of the three opinions stated in the Gemara as the optimal path to become a .relate to these three areas חסיד

The complete or perfect Jew needs to be:

Complete with others. This connotes someone who has perfected his -שלם עם זולתו מבני אדם (1 .בין אדם לחבירו dealing with others. This is known as

.נזיקין should strive to perfect himself in matters of חסיד One who wishes to become a One who cares about another person will undoubtedly be careful in how they treat their neighbor’s or friend’s possessions.

complete with himself. This connotes a refined character. This is a person who is -שלם בעצמו (2 .בין אדם לעצמו in complete control of their thoughts, emotions, and actions. This is known as

One who wishes to perfect their personality and character should fulfill Avos. Avos is replete with lessons and teachings about one’s personality.

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complete with the Creator. This connotes the individual who has perfected their -שלם עם בוראו (3 .בין אדם למקום relationship with Hashem. This is known as

One who wishes to perfect their relationship should focus on Berachos and on always thanking Hashem.

The Maharal explains that the three opinions are not necessarily disagreeing with each other. Rather, each offers a different perspective on life and our attempts to grow. Based on this, the comment of the Machzor Vitri is much more understandable. We teach Avos to the people in before beginning to work ,שלם בעצמו shul so that they can first improve themselves, to become on the other aspects of our service of Hashem.

writes that when the Jewish people left Egypt )אמת ליעקב אבות( Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky (2 they complained to Moshe. They asked “Where is the Torah that you promised us?” Already in Egypt, they were told that they would receive the Torah. They could reckon with all of the suffering that they endured because of the promise of the Torah. They but there was no Torah. They went to Moshe to complain. Moshe told ים סוף crossed the them that they needed to prepare. They needed multiple weeks to prepare themselves to be on the level to receive the Torah. We, too, need weeks to prepare for the Torah and Avos is the perfect thing to learn to prepare for the Torah.

3) Medrash Shmuel suggests that our learning of Avos during this time is related to the fact that during this time the 24,000 students of Akiva passed away. The Gemara .(they did not treat each other properly) שלא נהגו כבוד זה לזה relates that they died because Since so much of Avos is about Middos and how we should treat others, we learn it during this time.

משנה א

משֶׁה קִ בֵּל ּתוֹרָה מִסִינַי,ּומְ סָרָ ּה לִיהוֹשֻׁעַ, וִ יהוֹשֻׁעַ לִזְקֵּ נִים, ּוזְקֵּ נִים לִנְבִיאִ ים, ּונְבִיאִ ים מְ סָרּוהָ לְַאנְשֵּ יכְנֶׁסֶׁת :הַגְדוֹלָה. הֵּם ָאמְ רּו השְלשָ דְ בָרִ ים, הֱוּומְ תּונִים בַדִ ין, וְהַ עֲמִ ידּו תַלְמִ ידִ ים הַרְ בֵּה, וַ עֲׂשּו סְ יָג לַּתוֹרָ ה

Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. They said three things: Be patient in [the administration of] justice, raise many disciples and make a fence round the Torah.

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This ?משה קבל תורה מסיני Question to ponder: Why does the opening Mishna begin with this history of introduction could really be appropriate at the start of any Masechta in the entire Shas! So why is it found

?אבות specifically here in

or the Bartenura4, explains that when it comes to רע"ב known as the ,רב עובדיה מברטנורא (1 Middos and character, anyone can say what they like. Look at how often the standards of morality in the world change. It seems that people are making it up as they go along. This is not the way works. EVERYTHING is from the Torah. Middos, Mussar, and character development were also received by Moshe when he accepted the Torah. Since one could possibly think that the instructions found in these Mishnayos are less divine .משה קבל תורה מסיני than other Mishnayos or halachos, the Mishna starts with

.suggests an idea which is as relevant today as it was when he wrote it תפארת ישראל The (2 People tend to think that all one must do is learn the Torah and keep the Mitzvos and nothing else matters. They think that as long as they learn a lot they will merit Olam Habah. a. He points out that there are numerous statements in which refute that notion. The punishment for those with poor Middos -קשה עונשן של מידות )יבמות כא.( .i will be very harsh -כל העוסק בתורה ואין לו מו"מ באמונה ואינו מתנהג בנחת עם הבריות אוי לו )יומא כו.( .ii Woe is to one who learns Torah but does not conduct their business honestly and does not deal with people pleasantly. who learned Torah, only lived ,רבה points out that )יבמות קה.( iii. The Gemara who learned Torah but was also involved in אביי until he was forty, while .acts of kindness) lived until he was sixty years old) גמילות חסדים b. The Mishna is teaching us that the Torah and all of the Middos and Mussar found .is also from Sinai and must be taken as seriously אבות in

משה קבל תורה Question to ponder: Why does the Mishna write that Moshe received the Torah from Sinai משה קבל בתורה That’s not really accurate! He received the Torah from Hashem! It could have written ?מסיני !which means that he received at Sinai but it should not say that he received it from Sinai ,בסיני

1) The Kedushas Levi writes that due to his extreme sense of humility, Moshe did not want to be the one to accept the Torah. We see that, on multiple instances, he dismissed opportunities to be the leader that he would ultimately come. It was not until Hashem said

4 Ovadiah ben of Bertinoro (1445 –1515), commonly known as "The Bartenura", was a 15th-century Italian rabbi best known for his popular commentary on the . In his later years, he rejuvenated the Jewish community of and became recognized as the spiritual leader of the of his generation 4

to him “look at this mountain, where I am going to give you the Torah” that Moshe understood what was really needed to accept the Torah. As we know, the mountain was not the tallest, most magnificent, and most beautiful mountain. At that point, Moshe understood that it was precisely because of his humility that he could be the one to accept the Torah for the Jewish people. In essence, Moshe understood and learned, from Har Sinai, that he could be and should be the one to accept the Torah. He accepted the Torah .קבל תורה מסיני from Hashem because of Har Sinai. He was indeed

was chosen by הר סיני Additional question to think about: If Hashem because of its “lowly” or simple stature and appearance

to teach us about humility, why did Hashem not just give us the Torah in a valley? That would have really taught us about humility? Think about it...

?"מסרה" was יהושע and that יהושע to "מסרה" was משה Question to ponder: Why does the Mishna write that !נתנה means to give over or to transmit. The smoother word for “give” would have been מסרה The word

of Lubavitch5 suggests that the Mishna is teaching us that in order to be a ריי"צ The (4 Rebbe you have to completely give yourself over to your students. a. This goes very well with a beautiful insight of Rav Shimshon Pincus. The Torah In one of his explanations, Rashi writes that the .ה' ברך את אברהם בכל writes that which literally means “everything”) means that he was blessed with a) "בכל" word is the בכל son. Rashi explains that the Gematria (numerical value) of the word which means a son). Rav Pincus asks “why) בן same as the Gematria of the word did the Torah not say that Hashem blessed Avraham with a son?” What’s the Rav Pincus suggests that in order !בן Just say ?בן which means בכל point in saying .invested and committed 100% -בכל to raise a child one must be in it

5 Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (June 21 1880 –January 28 1950) was the sixth Rebbe of the Chabad Lubavitch Chassidic movement. He is also known as the Frierdiker Rebbe (Previous Rebbe), the Rebbe Rayatz (an acronym for Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak). After many years of fighting to keep alive from within the Soviet Union, he was forced to leave; he continued to conduct the struggle from Latvia, and then Poland, and eventually the United States, where he spent the last ten years of his life

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